


Lieutenant Kuryakin's claim to fame

by mrua7



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Snow, Soviet Union, Submarines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 16:37:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrua7/pseuds/mrua7
Summary: An Illya backstory involving an igloo





	Lieutenant Kuryakin's claim to fame

 

The Soviet diesel submarine Moskva had been patrolling in the Bering Sea, coming as close as they were permitted to American soil without creating an international incident.

The island of Little Diomede was but 4 kilometers from the Island of Big Diomede, where a Soviet base was located. There Moskva made a port of call and the crew could see across to the little American island.

There seemed to be few living on Little Diomede other than native Inuit and ethnic Russians who dwelled in ramshackle housing, and the Soviet sailors thought it sad to think this was how some of the downtrodden Amerikanskii masses lived.

Why the Kremlin was afraid to bring about war and a revolution within this country made no sense, as the might of the Soviet Union was far superior. If the people lived like this it should be easy to convert them to the socialist way of life!  Alas it was not the place of a lowly submarine crew to question workings of the Kremlin when it came to dealing with the west.

It was the Moskva’s job to help defend the coastline of the Soviet Union, and that was exactly what it would do.

The sub proceeded through the straits; its patrol was to hug the coast, traveling now in the East Siberian Sea, through to Kara Sea. From there they made an unscheduled stop at Kolguev Island, after which they’d continue their assignment to the Barents Sea, and finally home to the main base at Severomorsk.

A detail was sent out on Kolguev to kill some reindeer for fresh meat. Their stores were limited but enough, that was until cook discovered their meat had gone bad and would need replacing due to a defective freezer.

The sub was only permitted to make land at a limited number of locations while on patrol and this island with its few inhabitants would be a safe harbor.

 _"Tovarishch Leytenant, ya dumayu, chto shtorm stanovitsya vse khuzhe!_ _”_ Seaman Yuri Penkov, a member of the detail, called out to his superior.

A towheaded officer turned to him with concern in his blue eyes.

_“I know snow storm is getting worse! Now be quiet Yuri and let me think!”_

Young Lieutenant Kuryakin was in charge of the detail, and he had to make a decision. Either risk trying to get back to the sub waiting for them offshore; to do so they’d have to take their small rubber dinghy in the choppy waters, or stay on the island and shelter in place.

He chose what he thought was the lesser of two evils. The chances were greater the dinghy would founder in the rough seas and they’d all drown or freeze to death. Either way, if they didn’t find shelter they could still freeze to death here as well.

Time to **_pronounce_ ** his decision. _“We stay and build cover!”_ He barked the order.” _We will make like Inuit and build igloo.”_

“ _Ig-luh? Comrade Lieutenant? We do not know of making such things?”_ Seaman Evgeny Kashenkov groaned. Still they all knew not to argue with their stern Lieutenant. He was a good officer, efficient and fair;  he distanced himself from all the crew except one.

 _“Da Igloo, and I know how,”_ Kuryakin said. “They are built in shape of  catenoid, which offers optimal ratios between height and diameter of  structure to eliminate structural tension which could otherwise cause it to implode or bulge…”

 _“Illya?”_ His only friend on the boat, Starshina 1st class Mikhail Popov, tugged on the sleeve of his parka, pulling him aside and whispered to him.

_”Men do not care why, just tell them what to do before storm gets worse, da?”_

Kuryakin pursed his lips. He did not understand why they would not want to listen. It was always a good thing to learn something new and interesting, but then Misha had reminded him time and again, what Illya Kuryakin found interesting, many did not.

He shrugged and began giving them instructions on cutting the snow blocks and where to place them. The best snow to use for this purpose was blown by wind; it would serve to compact and interlock the ice crystals; luckily what they had her to use was perfect.  

The hole left in the snow where the blocks were cut was used as the lower half of the shelter. The snow's effective insulating properties would allow the inside to remain relatively warm.

Once the igloo was ready the men crawled in with their supplies. They’d killed only two reindeer, cleaned and dressed  one and that they dragged inside with them as well.  

“No pissing inside!” Kuryakin ordered. “I do not want to see any **_yellow_ **snow.”

As the winds whistled outside, they huddled together trying to keep warm by the light of their kerosene lanterns.

Seaman Ludomir Lomonosov complained about being hungry, but his rumbling stomach complained even louder.  

 _“I suppose we could roast some of the meat,”_ Kuryakin said. In truth he was hungry himself, and if he didn’t eat soon he would falter in front of the men; that he could not allow.

A hole was dug in the center of the igloo floor to act asa fire pit and kerosene poured from several of the lamps into it as well as a few sticks  they’d brought with them to mark where their kills would be buried in the snow. They saved one as it would be  would be a useful spit on which to roast a bit of the meat. 

They cut some it into small pieces and after poking a hole in the roof of the igloo to vent the smoke, Illya lit the kerosene.

That was a miscalculation on Kuryakin’s part.

 

A short while later as the sun rose, the snow stopped falling and the men gathered together in the freezing cold. At least they could now trek back to the shore with what meat they had.

When they arrived on board the submarine it was reported that Comrade Lieutenant Illya Nickovich Kuryakin was the first man in Soviet navy history to have burned down an igloo.

He shrugged as his boat mates laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

 _“I thought it would work,_ ” Illya mumbled as he shrugged. “ _The heat from the fire kept us warm.”_

 _“Da, warm Kuryakin way!”_ Starshina Popov spoke in defense of his friend. _“Well at least we were lucky he didn’t blow up igloo, and only burned it down.”_

 


End file.
